Conservatives campaign against insurance exchanges

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-05-29/health-insurance-exchanges/55267456/1

WASHINGTON – Conservative organizations have canvassed the country in recent months to try to persuade state legislators not to pass bills to create health insurance exchanges.

"Over the last eight to 10 months, we've seen a huge change in course," said Christy Herrera, health task force director of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). "Before the deadline, states have the time to carefully deliberate. … They shouldn't be pressured."

Without state exchanges, the federal government will be unable to implement the 2010 health care law, ALEC, the Cato Institute and other conservatives say. Exchanges are websites where consumers can compare costs and benefits of available insurance plans in the state, as well as buy insurance.

Administration officials and some policy conservatives say the theory by ALEC and the Cato Institute is misguided. The federal government is paying for the start-up exchanges, and the law gives the states the flexibility to run their own programs. The Department of Health and Human Services announced this month that 34 states have accepted grants to pay for exchanges. If states don't create exchanges, their residents can participate in a federal program.

Before the health care law was passed, Smith said, she was working with 22 states to create exchanges, which she called a Republican idea.

"I'm a conservative and a Republican, but I still would not be willing to bet the farm on" the idea that the law will fail if states don't create exchanges, Smith said. "When you work at a think-tank, it's really easy to come up with these really high-risk plans."

No Republican alternative to the health care law has been announced.